Kasey Kahne Unlucky Again

Kasey Kahne was running strong last night in the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He led a few laps, even. However, he was bumped from behind and sent down into the grass, causing a rear tire to go down and completely ruining his chance at winning the race.

This season hasn't been a great one for Kasey. He's been back in the late teens in points with no wins, except for the Gatorade Duel back in February. His average start has been 12.4, not horrible, and his average finish has been 17.7. That is pretty good, but not quite good enough to put him into the Chase this season.

Last night left him 18th in standings, too far away to put him in that 12th spot. Had that tire not gone down, he could have hopped into that 13th or 14th spot, putting him in good position for the spot they are all after. But, the tire went down and now he's a sitting duck in the late teens.

I do not believe, however, that it's Kasey's fault that he is back there. One thing that has always made me livid about his luck is the fact that RPM is not giving him the equipment he needs to contend for the chase. Kasey is a great driver with great potential. The cars that RPM is giving him are not what he needs. You can see Elliott Sadler, another driver with 69 career top 10s, is almost always shown out or a lap down. The cars that RPM is giving out are not cars that can contend with the cars from teams such as Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing.

But, if you look at where Kasey is headed, you will see that he is headed in the right direction. A year at Red Bull Racing will give him a year to really focus on his racing and then he will head to Hendrick, arguably the best team that one could move to. Hendrick may not have the best cars this year, but with drivers such as Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, you can bet that Kasey will fit right in.

In conclusion, I believe that Hendrick will be strong in 2012 and I also would like to say that RPM is doing the right thing by going down to two cars. They can focus on two cars every week instead of four. That might be key to more Richard Petty victories!

"The opinions expressed in this post are solely of the author."